College men's gymnastics' most exciting meet of the weekend was in Lincoln, NE. Sixth-ranked Minnesota had a seemingly insurmountable lead (363.65-358.45) over second-ranked Penn State heading into the final rotation. Luckily for Penn State, they were finishing on FX, while Minnesota was ending on PH. The Nittany Lions had a 5.2-point season advantage in the point differential for the two teams on those events. It came down to the final competitors... [...more]
Illinois hosted another match play format in a dual men's gymnastics meet against Stanford. The head-to-head contest ended up with Stanford on top (21-9), but they also prevailed on regular scores (440.30-420.40). The live webcast was very enjoyable to watch, as viewers were able to watch both teams competing on the same event. The scores were revealed after each two head-to-head competitors squared off. Whichever gymnast had the highest score, the winning team was awarded one point. In other words, the Cardinal won 21 out of 30 routines [...more]
Stanford hit for 440 for the second time this season (443.25), in their victory over Minnesota (431.65) and Cal (430.20). The Cardinal hosted the Collegiate Challenge, also featuring collegiate all-star teams from Japan and Canada (429.65). Japan (445.25) actually won the meet, but that didn't detract from Stanford putting up their best team numbers of the season. It was more or less an night off for Akash Modi, who competed only on two events (VT & PB), posting 15.10 on each. Stanford didn't need Modi for the AA, as they had twelve scores of 15-plus by eight [...more]
In a highly anticipated college men's gymnastics meet, dubbed as The Perfect Dual, Oklahoma (457.30) again revved up their high-scoring machine with a win over Illinois (434.20). The Sooners won the battle of the undefeated with a mind-boggling performance that hardly anybody thought would be possible. Last week's record beat-down of Michigan was with a 6-up/5-count lineup. 5-up/5-count started this weekend, making it almost inconceivable another scoring record could be possible. Whoever is feeding this team [...more]
A bit of Twitter smack talk between Oklahoma and Illinois erupted the day before The Perfect Dual. Don't ever recall seeing that before a men's gymnastics meet. Very cool! The battle between the two undefeated clubs takes place on Friday night in Norman, OK. The season's most high-profile meet so far can be seen live on FoxSports Oklahoma or streamed through the Fox Sports Go app. For those unable to watch, the meet can be followed via live scoring. [...more]
LAS VEGAS, NV -- A just reward for his decade-plus elite men's gymnastics career, crowd favorite Paul Ruggeri turned two great nights of gymnastics into his first Winter Cup all-around title. Ruggeri (175.25) won out over Steve Legendre (174.70) and Donnell Whittenburg (174.50) in a hard-fought battle between two veterans and a rising young star. Rounding out the top five was another young star, Marvin Kimble (173.80), and Cal grad Donothan Bailey (172.05). A year ago at this meet, Legendre suffered a torn pectoral muscle that kept him out of action until [...more]
Here is some great information for all the Senior Men competing this weekend at Winter Cup, starting with U.S. Nationals. The first page has a link to the start list and a bunch of other info. Each gymnast has his own tab. Thanks to Shelli Koszdin for compiling this exhaustive list. [...more]
It was a perfect storm. The most dominating performance in college men's gymnastics history was etched into the record books by Oklahoma (456.40) in their win over Michigan (439.60). The numbers are stunning... A 76.07 average on six events, which equates to a 15.21 individual average on each event. And get this... An unbelievable tally of 24 individual scores of 15-plus by thirteen different gymnasts. Perhaps the most outstanding performance was on high bar (77.05)... An average of 15.41 per gymnast. A score of 450-plus is a like a [...more]
The weekend's marquee college men's gymnastics matchup between host Michigan (433.90) and Stanford (432.65) was a doozy. The favored Cardinal (ranked #2) fell behind early in the first rotation, and never quite recovered. Heading into the final rotation, the Wolverines clung to a slim 1-point lead. Freshman Dima Belanovski, anchorman on HB, hit a clutch 14.85 to clinch the win for Michigan. He also placed 2nd in the [...more]
The following is a guest post by Shelli Koszdin, a very loyal and knowledgeable college men's gymnastics fan.
“Are we going to sit near the balance beam?” asked one of my friends on the ride over to Stanford to watch the Cardinal take on California, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. “Um, no. Men don’t do balance beam, and they don’t do floor to music, either.” Thankfully, [...more]
